Gideon and his unlikely victory | Dave Dummitt

all right what is up willow family it is so good to be with you at all of our campuses and online we are at the end of a series called against all odds we've been looking at some underdog stories in the bible last week we had the acho brothers here we had megan marshman come she told us a story about the new testament church that was an underdog story because they were you know this ragtag group of folks but man they loved jesus and partnered with the power of god and they ended up changing the world i mean look at what has happened through those folks and i told the story a couple weeks ago probably one of the most famous underdog stories and that's david and goliath and i didn't have time to kind of zero in on one of the things that i loved about that story and that is this that david never understood himself to be an underdog david was this young guy that was going up against this big guy and and he just never saw himself as an underdog he had this courage he had this confidence in fact one of my favorite details in all of scripture is in that story one of my favorite details that i come back to again and again and again in my own life and that is where david says or it says that he ran quickly to the battle line to meet goliath now look at that he ran quickly to the battle line to meet goliath and right there i think man what courage what what what impossible courage that he had going to meet this guy and i think man right there god could be given a word to somebody that's hearing my voice that there could be some area where you feel like maybe you're an underdog maybe some area where you feel like oh my goodness i feel like god might be calling me to to um start my own shop and i'm praying about it and people are telling me yeah you should start your own shot but i'm just not sure and god might be saying to you run to the battle line or you might be thinking man i've always felt like maybe i should go back to school and get my degree and people around you are saying yeah do that that would be great you're praying about it and you're not sure and you've got this lack of curry you're not sure and and god could be saying to you right now run to the battle line to make it happen i got a young man uh this week that was telling me i'm just i've been praying to meet the one he's in college and he's like i've got this girl and i'm not sure if i should you know ask her out she's a christian and people are saying we'd be great together and that sort of thing and i'm like man come on you know turn off the xbox slap on some deodorant and go like run to meet this girl david he just never understood himself to be an underdog he never felt like an underdog and the reason i zoom in on that two weeks later is this that's not always me and it's probably not always you because sometimes the truth is whether i am an underdog or not an underdog i feel like one there are times that i feel inadequate for the task there are times when i'm wondering am i going to measure up do i have what it takes am i the only one am i the only person that sometimes looks in the mirror and goes really god you're sending me like what is this about 21 years ago they took this beautiful little baby named grace and they put her in my arms and i thought all i could think about was like when i was 10 years old and i didn't feed my goldfish and it died and i'm like you're giving me a human being and letting me take that home are you kidding me do you ever feel inadequate as a parent like i'm not sure i'm cut out for this you ever come to church and feel inadequate or maybe you go to a small group and people are going yeah i'm at devotions in zechariah and you're like what zechariah i didn't know that was a book of the bible you know or they're talking about cubits and they actually sound like they know what a cube it is or maybe you came to church today and the music started at all the campuses the music started and you kind of looked around and there were some people that were like immediately they were they were into it you're like what do they know that i don't know they're full on touchdown jesus and you're just like i don't know what that's about like at the most maybe you're like carry the tv you know kind of a worshiper and you're just going i don't know if i'm cut out for this and it can happen in any area of life you know your career sometimes you feel like an underdog inadequate for the task are you going to measure up maybe it's in school maybe it's in relationships but it can happen in any area of life i heard a pastor talk about at least two places or two things that can cause us to feel like an underdog one is this unfair criticism unfair criticism now not all criticism is bad not all criticism is bad some criticism is good raise your hand at all of our campuses if you've ever taken a golf lesson raise your hand if you've ever had a golf lesson all right or a music lesson right golf lesson at ali i know at north shore i know you've had a golf lesson but do you know what you've done all of you that raised your hand you paid someone to criticize you you valued their criticism so much because you knew it could make you better you knew that they would look at you and they would say hey you're doing it wrong this is this is how you need to do so all criticism is not bad i'm talking about the unfair criticism it's either inaccurate or they're giving it to you in a mean way and it's been it's been dug into your psyche they've said things like you're never going to measure up you're never going to have what it takes you're not worth that you're never going to amount to anything and there's something about that that's been burned into your psyche it's been burned into the the hard drive of your mind and therefore you just kind of go around all the time feeling like an underdog because you've experienced unfair criticism there's another one another thing that can lead to that feeling is unwise comparisons unwise comparisons you look down the street you go oh their hedges are nicer than my hedges his car is shinier than my car we're comparing ourselves to other people social media has made this horrible because you look on social media and your friends have just spent the day at the apple orchard you know or they're on their mexico beach vacation or they just posted their five mile run and you're still in your pajamas you know and we just got through uh back to school season can we talk about the first day of school picks that you guys are now doing goodness i this this was my generation that came up with this but i'm telling you as parents rachel and i felt like if we get them to school in clean underwear and a packed lunch we're doing it like that's good and you guys come out with your professional photo shoots on the first day of school you get little chalkboards that are like class of 2023 or whatever and i'm just like oh that's so clever but i don't need that pressure okay you know what i'm talking about we compare ourselves to other people and we think man we're just not measuring up can i just share this with you somebody said this about social media that when we are comparing ourselves to other people on social media we are comparing our blooper reels to their highlight reels does that make sense because you know yeah you can clap for that you guys are clapping uh yeah we have blooper reels right like we know what our life is like and we don't take pictures of those things and put them up on you know the times where we've blown it the times where it's mediocre the times that we skipped the workout the times we didn't have lobster for dinner or whatever we we we don't put that up there so we know our blooper reels are behind the scenes but we're always comparing that to their highlight reels so anyway um these are the things that if we're not careful can lead us to feel inferior can lead us to feel like an underdog like you don't measure up like you don't have what it takes so what i want to do is i want to talk about what do you do when you feel like an underdog what do you do when you feel like that going up into a challenge and i'm going to be in judges chapter 6 today if you have a bible you can open it up you can open it up on your phone that sort of thing but we're going to be at jo judges chapter six i want to look at a guy named gideon a guy named gideon um we'll start in verse 11 chapter 6 verse 11 says this the angel of the lord now stop right there i know we just got into it but let me stop right there anytime you see the angel of the lord in the old testament this is the pre-incarnate jesus this is jesus before christmas okay the angel of the lord in the old testament in fact there's a fancy theological term for it it's called theophany everybody say theophany right so now when you go to small group and zechariah guy comes up you can you can blow him away all right well that's a theophany all right the angel of the lord so jesus is there with gideon and it says the angel of the lord came and sat down under the oak in ophra she got a tv show she got a network now she's got an oak tree in the bible named after good on ya ophra all right that belonged to joe ash the ibiza right where his son gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press to keep it from the midianites now i know many of you are astute wheat threshers and you're immediately wondering to yourself why would he be threshing wheat in a wine press but for the rest of us who don't understand what is going on there what's peculiar about that let me just explain when you thresh wheat you're basically taking you're trying to separate the chaff which is this sort of loose light worthless um uh part of the stock and you're trying to get the wheat the good stuff and so you're throwing it up in the air and and you want to eventually through it goes up in the air and and they'll separate and you'll want to do it mostly like up on a hill where there's wind or out in the open because that's going to help you out throw it up the wind will take the chaff away but gideon strangely is in a wine press now a wine press you want it to be cool and damp so you're gonna be down in a pit maybe in a cave a wine press you're gonna you're gonna be you know sort of inside indoors protected from the wind and so back then if you'd have been reading that you'd have been like what is he doing threshing wheat in a wine press it goes on um basically what we what we find out is that he is afraid of the midianites the enemy people he's he's threshing wheat in sort of a hidden bunker in sort of a pit of fear almost a pit of of inadequacy or insecurity because he's afraid of the midianite people who could raid or could kill or to whatever and so that's what he's doing he's stuck in this pit so what i want to look at is when you're in the pit what do you do okay verse 12 when the angel of the lord appeared to gideon he said the lord is with you mighty warrior jesus looks at him and says mighty warrior in the same moment that he's acting like a scared farmer and so the first thing i would share with you is this trust what god says about you if you ever come upon a season of life or a challenge and you start to feel like the underdog like you're feeling insecure you're feeling inadequate for the task the first thing i would encourage you to do is trust what god says about you now many times that's not who we're trusting we're trusting the voice of some hot-headed coach that in a moment of frustration you know told us you're never going to amount to anything you're cut from the team or some some uninspired teacher that sort of is constantly rolling their eyes or making you feel less than and you're listening to that voice or maybe you're listening to some bully timmy nine-year-old little timmy who bullied you as a kid and you're listening to that voice and i would just ask you what is it about their resume that makes them so trustworthy in your life when you have the creator of the universe a god who created not just the universe but you who is telling you true things about yourself and yet instead of listening and trusting his definition his his speaking his identity over you you're thinking about these other people in your life trust what god says about you now let me ask you mighty willow warriors what do you need to hear god say about you today i mean for gideon it was you know you're a mighty warrior that's what he needed in his time and i don't i don't know this is kind of where the the message goes choose your own adventure because i don't know what it is that you need to hear from god today but i will tell you that he says a lot about you in scripture what is it that you need to hear and i i think the assignment or the action step that you could take from today would be okay to figure out this is what i need to hear and then go find some scripture put it on a post-it note and stick it on your bathroom mirror and then try and memorize that scripture keep coming back to that scripture so it can encourage you so so maybe you need to hear god has a purpose for me and so you know maybe it's ephesians 2 10 for we are god's masterpiece he created us anew in christ jesus so we can do the good things he prepared and planned for us long ago so you are both a work of art a masterpiece and an artist at work partnering with god in the most incredible purpose there is which is to to better the world to do the good things that god has called you to do maybe that's what you need to hear maybe you're you're listening to my voice and you just feel like damaged goods worn out worthless um second corinthians 5 17 says therefore if anyone is in christ the new creation has come the old is gone and the new is here in other words you are redeemed maybe that's what you need to hear my brother-in-law uh has a business where he takes down old barns that that and the farmers don't even they don't charge him because they don't care about the barn anymore it's just it's worthless it's run down and he'll take that barn wood and turn it into he'll redeem it he'll he'll make a new creation out of it make it something worthwhile this is an old barn and this is our kitchen table rachel and i bought one of his pieces of furniture and you could see how he takes something that's old and gives it new life and that's what god can do with you you say well i'm i'm just kind of worn out i'm damaged goods no god would say you're a new creation you say well i i you know what i i don't feel special i don't feel valued i just feel like a number at work i just feel like my value i don't have much value john 3 16 says for god so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life how do you determine the value of something it's basically based on what someone is willing to pay for it and god gave his one and only son for you what are you worth i love you i mean i love you i'd love to i'd love to think that if if it came to it i'd take a bullet for any any and every one of you but i'm not i'm not giving you i'm not giving up one of my kids for you i hope you understand that but i'm just not and yet that's exactly what god does for you and for me so i i don't know what it is that you need to hear from god today but i would encourage you to trust what he says about you go find a scripture that matches what you need to hear and if you need help call your campus pastor call somebody and they'll help you find a verse and then meditate on that and trust that second thing check your attitude if you are feeling insecure inadequate i don't measure up i feel like an underdog can i encourage you to check your attitude look at gideon's attitude in verse 13. he says but sir if the lord is with us why has all this happened to us where are all these wonders that you foretold us about when they said did the lord not bring us up out of egypt but now the lord has abandoned us and put us in the hand of the midianites and the lord turned to him and said go in the strength that you have save israel out of midian's hand am i not sending you god asks and you can just picture gideon sort of kick in the dirt while he says it and what it's like god's not even here like how come he doesn't work the way he used to work just kind of staring at the ground just sort of downcast like why doesn't god show up and like what's so ironic about that for me is that he mentions egypt and the whole story of the plagues and the the pillar of fire and the parting of the red sea and all these all these things that were meant to be inspirational that should be building his faith are things that he's using to look at his he's completely reframed it his attitude and going well god's not even working like that anymore and what's more and he's like and i don't even know where god is how come god doesn't show up and theophany jesus is right in front of him and it's like he doesn't even see it it's like he doesn't even know it folks can i encourage you develop the discipline of remembering the goodness and the greatness the good things that god has done the great things that god has done in your life remember those things and also be on the lookout for god moving in your life don't let jesus be right in your face and miss it don't let him be doing this blessing over here and working over here in your life and doing this over here and yet because your attitude you're fixed on something else you completely miss what god is doing right in front of you check your attitude do you know um there's there's actually a gauge on an airplane every airplane has one that is the attitude gauge now we i didn't say altitude gauge they have one of those too you know that the altitude measures like you know how high the plane is we get that that's the altitude but there's also a gauge that measures the attitude of the plane and that gauge measures the the um the angle of the nose relative to the horizon so if the attitude is down the plane is like nose down if the attitude is up that is the plane that the nose is up and every pilot will tell you you cannot gain altitude unless your attitude is pointed up do you see where i'm going with this what would albert tate say if you'd catch it quicker i wouldn't have to preach as long remember when i say that right we've got to keep our nose up we've got to keep our attitude up i go around the country in the last year and pastors leaders from all over they'll they'll ask me hey okay you're the willow guy now okay and they'll lean in and they'll go hey hey how's it going at willow like we're some church on life support or something like the challenges of our past are greater than the greatness of our god like he hasn't done an amazing thing among amazing things among us like our god is not at work moving among us i always tell them i don't say we're doing good i don't say we're doing bad i just tell them what god is doing well how's it going at willow i say well we had a celebration of hope goal of a million dollars but we didn't get it we got a million five that's pretty good how's it going well well we had over 300 people baptized so far this year and the year ain't over yet that's pretty good yeah um attendance a lot of people measure attendance attendance is important i think that's it tells a story but for me it's more about engagement but here's the thing across the country people are looking it's a weird thing to try and gauge with covid postcovid but the way we're trying to do it is most churches are looking at their pre-covered numbers now for most churches big churches like us they're at 50 to 60 percent um of their pre-covered numbers and the churches in the south are skewing it higher because apparently covet didn't happen in the south i don't know what happened down there but they've been open we were open you know a little before easter they've been open since like november so i don't really have anything to say about that but here's the thing they south barrington you hit 53 percent a couple of weeks ago that's pretty cool way to go sean way to go steph way to go all the staff here there's a way to go huntley talking to you huntley out there with todd and shannon and all you guys out there you hit 77 of your pre-coveted numbers how's willow doing you just heard about tailgate with almost uh four almost four thousand people getting involved in small groups and then we've had this vision for about a year about what it would look like to begin to open up our buildings on more than just a sunday and so there are lots there's a lot going on about i don't have time to go into it but there's just a couple this attitude of like hey let's start using our building so people said hey let's do some concerts well hey miguel out of crystal lake we see you with jeremy camp concert that looks like a pretty hopping place isn't that amazing and last night here at south barrington you know we had maverick city in check this out look at that it was completely sold out every seat in this place was taken now god is up to something god is moving i'm just going to ask you one more time at all of our campuses how many of you believe that god is at work and the best is yet to come how many of you believe that hey here's my challenge to you today we're going to give you free t-shirts you like my t-shirt isn't it beautiful do you like this we're going to give each of you a free t-shirt this is what i think that would be the best stewardship of our church's dollars because we're giving you a free t-shirt we paid for these okay so you well you paid for them and we're giving them back to you but here's the deal i would love since i'm saving you like 10 bucks on a t-shirt today i would love to encourage you to go out to eat now some of you are like well i was planning on going out to eat good good that's great some of you we're not planning on it i want to encourage you to go out to eat whether you're planning on it or not go out to eat wherever you are at all of our campuses go get your t-shirt after service i want you to put all i want you to change into your t-shirts i want to send thousands of people out to restaurants right around your campus i think it'd be great if there was a party over here and a party over here of all these people with matching t-shirts at all these restaurants and then here's what i want you to do when the server comes up and says hi my name's so i'll be taking care of you at some point i want you to be like how you doing whatever at some point i just want you to say these words we just came from church and we are hungry we're going to practice right now we're going to practice right now ready on three we just came from church and we are hungry ready on three at all of our campuses you better say it out there okay here we go one two three we just came from church and we are hungry that's not good no don't clap at that that was not good enough let's do it you ready here we go we just came from church and we are that's all you gotta say and then leave the biggest tip you have ever left for that server are you with me on that all right that's what we're gonna do everybody get your shirts on that's what we're gonna do okay we gotta get back to the bible okay back to the bible third and final point is this after you check your attitude after you trust what god says about you if you feel kind of like an underdog then i'll give you the third one is play your part just play your part pardon me my lord gideon replied how can i save israel my uh uh my my um my clan is the weakest in manasseh and i am the least in my family and the lord answers well because i'll be with you you'll strike down all the midianites leaving none alive like gideon's like well how can i save israel like whoever told you you were going to do it that's not your part see most of us will we'll think about our lives in this way that if it were a movie or a play in a theater that that we are the star of the show and that we really need a a a sidekick we really need a supporting actor like god to come and help us out with our lead role with where we're going with our story that's what we need so we need a guide we need somebody to help us out we need like yoda to our luke skywalker and i'm just here to tell you that it is not your story that you are not the show the star of the show god is never the supporting actor to you he it's his story that's why it's called history it's his story and therefore you are the supporting actor to him so play your part and i'm not trying to give you bad news i'm trying to give you good news because here's what i want to tell you is that when you feel the pressure to do all the work when you feel the pressure to accomplish it when you feel like i don't know if i can pull this off it's okay relax because that's not your role your role is just to play your part to do what god is calling you to do and then you watch how god works in your midst you watch god do amazing things stacy king you all remember stacy king played for the bulls do you know this story because i love this story stacy king was playing for the bulls um michael jordan gets his all time in a game scoring record of 69 points 69 points in one game against the cleveland cleveland cavaliers and um and but stacy king got in the game at one point got in the game he got one free throw he made one free throw and then there was a a a a media person a reporter a couple of months later was like stacy king how do you feel about the season and he said i'll never forget the night that michael jordan and i combined for 70 points that's awesome that is awesome and i would just share with you that that is how it is with god like your part you just have to do a little bit and then god will show up in huge ways and take over and and that's what happens if you look at um chapter seven uh it's all about basically the process here you can go read this for yourself but there's 135 000 midianites and gideon was able to muster 32 000 israelites not good old odds i mean against all odd story that's like a you know like a what are the odds like uh five i was told there'd be no math um as a pastor so they're bad odds is what i'm saying um but god says still not good enough you go read the story it's really cool god says okay 32 000 that's great i want you to go and ask anybody who's scared they can just go home you release them and so gideon's like what he goes out and he says well if you're scared you can go home you don't have to fight and 22 thousand guys leave and i just i just wish i was there to watch gideon's face through all this because then thank god gideon comes back to god and god's like okay now we're going to eliminate some more what he says here's what you do when you take the ten thousand people take them down the river down the pond and anybody who drinks by laying down and drinking i want you to get rid of them and kitty's like okay and they end up they end up 9 700 guys leave they're left with 300 people 300 against 135 000 300 against 135 000 and then and then god says here's what we're going to do you've heard of swords and spears and slings and things like that here's what i want you to do i want you to take a torch i want you to take a clay pot and i want you to go down to the midianite camp and then when i tell you i should just kind of circle the camp at night and i want you to flash the torch i want you to yell real loud i want you to smash the the clay pots and that's the battle strategy and i'm just sure gideon is going okay and that's what he does they smash the pots they flash the torches and the midianites freak out and 135 thousand of them get them in the middle of the night and they're pjs and they they're discombobulated they don't know what's going on they end up turning on each other they they're they're defeated they're killing they're defeating each other and then the 300 special forces of gideon are able to come in and do the rest of the work he did a little bit he got the one point he got made sure the other 69 were taken care of i just want to encourage you i don't know what it is the big thing that you're facing right now i don't know where it is that you feel insecure inadequate or like you don't measure up but i just want to encourage you trust what god says about you this would encourage you to check your attitude watch for where god's working and i just want to encourage you that when the odds are against you you plus god are a majority yeah you plus god have an advantage you plus god can make anything happen um i'll close with this my mother um the last words my mother ever said to me before she passed away she was too weak to swallow food and we're in the her hospital room and she's in her bed and i'm getting ready to leave and you can just get a sense that this could be the last thing and she got that sense too and and so she invited my brother my dad and myself to circle the bed and uh and she says i want to pray and i'm thinking i'm a pastor i'm sure she wants me to do it um she said no i want to pray that was uncharacteristic of her but she said dear god and she went around and she thanked god for every person every grandkid everybody in our family she had to pause and take a breath for each one she was so weak but she thanked god by name for each person and then she said god and help us to know that there is nothing that's going to happen to us today that we can't handle with your help amen so i want to share that prayer with you today give that as a gift to you would you bow your heads close your eyes all of our campuses i don't know what you're going through but i just want to thank god for you and i don't know each of your names but god knows your name he says in his word that every hair on your head is numbered he knows you he knows your thoughts he knows what concerns you he knows your heart he knows where you're strong and he knows when you're weak and he knows he knows where you're stressed and what's going on in your life he knows you and i just thank god for you and then i pray that you would know that no matter how you feel no matter what criticism you've received or no matter how you feel like you measure up against other people no matter how you feel that you would know that nothing is going to happen to you today nothing is going to happen to you in your work nothing's going to happen to you in your relationships nothing's going to happen to you with your health nothing is going to happen to you in your life today or in this season or in the future nothing is going to happen to you that you cannot handle without the help of our good god amen [Applause]

Channel: Willow Creek Community Church

Views: 4,288

Keywords: willow creek community church, willow creek, willow, willow south barrington, love god. love people. change the world, love god, love people, change the world, willow creek mission, dave dummitt, dave dumitt, dave dummit, Gideon, Gideon and the 300, Judges 6, attitude, self worth, you are valuable, John 3:16, check your attitude, angel of the Lord, strength and weakness, insufficient, ill-equipped, out-numbered

Id: PjPCNPycxXc

Length: 36min 43sec (2203 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021